Of all the major wars fought during the twentieth century that involved the United States, the Korean War is among the least represented cinematically. The Korean War was an armed conflict fought between 1950 and 1953 that pitted North Korea against South Korea. The People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union supported North Korea, while the United States and the United Nations Command fought alongside South Korea. On July 27th, 1953, both sides of the war signed the Korean Armistice Agreement, which created the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Due to neither side ever signing a peace treaty, the Korean War remains a frozen conflict. During the 1950s and 1960s, Hollywood produced many Korean War films, however, most never achieved the same level of commercial and critical success as movies based on World War II.
Since the mid-1960s, Hollywood has produced only a handful of films about the Korean War. In South Korea, classics about the Korean War include films such as Piagol and The Marines Who Never Returned. In the twenty-first century, South Korean movies concerning the Korean War have found immense box office success, with many ranking among the highest-grossing South Korean films of all time. Even though they may not be as popular as World War II or Vietnam War movies, there have been many excellent films made about the Korean War.
10 Pork Chop Hill Depicts the First Battle of Pork Chop Hill (1959)
Two-time Academy Award-winning director Lewis Milestone made films across a wide variety of genres. However, Milestone particularly excelled at war movies. Throughout his career, Milestone directed 11 war films. The World War I classic All Quiet on the Western Front and Edge of Darkness are among his most acclaimed war movies. In 1959, Milestone directed his final war movie, the Korean War film Pork Chop Hill. The movie depicts the first Battle of Pork Chop Hill, which occurred as both sides of the conflict worked on peace talks. Brigadier General S. L. A. Marshall’s 1956 book Pork Chop Hill: The American Fighting Man in Action served as the film’s source material.
In Pork Chop Hill, Gregory Peck and Rip Torn star as real-life lieutenants Joe Clemons and Walter Russell. The United States Armed Forces awarded both Clemons and Russell the Silver Star Medal for their heroic actions during the Battle of Pork Chop Hill. The film was a minor box office hit that earned positive reviews from critics for its grim and gritty style.
9 War Hunt Was One of the Best Movies of 1962 (1962)
Today, Robert Redford is universally recognized as one of the most famous movie stars in film history. In 1962, Redford was a relatively unknown television actor who made his feature film debut in the Korean War film War Hunt. Directed by two-time Academy Award winner Denis Sanders, War Hunt focuses on an idealistic American soldier who discovers the horrors of war on the front lines during the Korean War. War Hunt also marked Sydney Pollack and Tom Skerritt’s feature film debuts.
Shot in 15 days on a measly $250,000 budget, War Hunt opened to critical acclaim. At the Locarno International Film Festival, War Hunt won the Silver Sail for Best Feature Film. The National Board of Review named War Hunt one of 1962’s Top Ten Films. War Hunt also earned a UN Award nomination from the BAFTA Awards. Lang Thompson wrote of War Hunt, “Despite its status as the type of film relegated to double bills in the sixties, War Hunt is a sharp and gripping drama that hasn’t yet received the acclaim it deserves.”
8 Men in War Is a Korean War Film Directed By the Great Anthony Mann (1957)
In the 1940s, filmmaker Anthony Mann established himself as a proficient director of film noirs. The following decade saw Mann emerge as one of cinema’s all-time great Western auteurs. Two years after the end of Mann’s eight film collaborations with James Stewart, Mann directed the Korean War movie Men in War. The film centers on two soldiers, played by Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray, who cannot stand one another. However, they must lead their men on a march to Hill 465, where they hope the rest of their division awaits.
Initially, the United States Army helped assist with Men in War’s production. However, upon seeing the finished film, the United States Army refused to participate in Men in War’s premiere because they felt the movie offended military officers’ dignity. Writing about Men in War’s controversy, Sean Axmaker stated, “It’s hard to understand such objections today. Not only one of Mann’s best films, it remains one of the greatest, and most stark, war movies ever made.” Many critics compare Men in War’s lack of patriotism and sentimentality with Samuel Fuller’s The Steel Helmet, another iconic Korean War movie that tried to paint a more realistic and harsh depiction of war compared to most Golden Era Hollywood war movies.
7 Sayonara Is a Golden Era Korean War Romance Movie (1957)
Based on James A. Michener’s 1954 novel of the same name, Sayonara is a Korean War romance movie starring Marlon Brando as Major Lloyd “Ace” Gruver, a soldier reassigned from combat in Korea to a military base in Japan. Fellow soldier Joe Kelly prepares to marry Katsumi, a Japanese woman. Interracial marriages were illegal in the United States. “Ace” disapproves of Kelly’s marriage, until he falls in love with Hana-ogi, a Japanese entertainer.
A box office smash hit, Sayonara was the third highest-grossing North American release in 1957. The movie remained number one at the box office for five consecutive weeks. At the 30th Academy Awards, Sayonara received ten Oscar nominations, winning for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, and Best Sound, Recording. Miyoshi Umeki’s win for Best Actress in a Supporting Role made her the first Japanese actor to win an Academy Award. The American Film Institute nominated Sayonara for their list of the best American romance movies and the greatest Hollywood film scores.
6 Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War Broke Box Office Records in South Korea (2004)
Kang Je-gyu is a South Korean filmmaker best known for his movies Shiri and Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War. When Shiri premiered in 1999, it set box office and attendance records in South Korea. Five years later, Kang found similar success with Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War, a Korean War movie about two brothers fighting in a deadly conflict. To help shield his younger brother from the horrors of war, the elder brother takes on the riskiest missions.
At the time of its debut, Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War was the most expensive South Korean movie ever produced with a $12.5 million budget. The big-budget gamble paid off, as Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War set attendance records in South Korea and became the country’s highest-grossing film. Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War earned nine Blue Dragon Award nominations, winning for Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. The movie also garnered nine Grand Bell Award nominations, winning for Best Cinematography, Best Arti Direction, and Best Sound Effects. The Austin Chronicle’s Marc Savlov wrote of Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War, “The most costly and the most popular film in South Korean history is also one of the most gripping and epic war films ever made, and certainly, the only one I can think of the portrays the Korean war from the viewpoint of both sides of the conflict.”
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5 The Marines Who Never Returned Is a Seminal Work of South Korean Cinema (1963)
South Korean director Lee Man-hee was a prominent filmmaker during the 1960s and 1970s. His most famous work is the seminal Korean War movie The Marines Who Never Returned. The film centers on a division of marines who survive an intense battle with the Chinese army. However, after the fighting, the Marines find themselves stranded behind enemy lines without any contact with their fellow soldiers.
The Marines Who Never Returned received significant critical attention upon its debut in 1963. At the 3rd Grand Bell Awards, The Marines Who Never Returned won three awards for Best Director, Best New Artist, and Best Sound Effects. The Marines Who Never Returned also won two Blue Dragon Awards for Best Director and a Special Award for Group Acting. In celebration of the history of Korean cinema, the Korean Film Archive composed a list of the 100 greatest South Korean movies. The Marines Who Never Returned was placed as the 20th-best South Korean movie of all time.
4 Piagol Is an Important Work of South Korean Cinema (1955)
The highly controversial Korean War movie Piagol is one of the most important works in South Korean film history. Directed by Lee Kang-cheon, Piagol follows a group of North Korean guerrilla fighters who refuse to accept the Korean Armistice Agreement. They hole up near Mt. Jirisan, where jealousy and rivalry threaten their unity. Piagol was inspired by true events that took place in the aftermath of the Korean Armistice Agreement.
Controversy erupted in South Korea when censors banned Piagol from release due to the film having North Koreans as its protagonists. Lee argued censors missed the point of the movie, which was to demonstrate the flaws in communist ideology. After extensive coverage in the press, Piagol was finally given a theatrical release, however, multiple changes had to be made to receive approval. The Korean Film Archive voted Piagol the 15th greatest South Korean movie ever made.
3 The Steel Helmet Is a Landmark Small-Budget War Movie (1951)
Legendary Hollywood auteur Samuel Fuller fought for the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division during World War II. When Fuller began directing feature films, he worked extensively within the Western, war, and film noir genres. Fuller despised the romanticized war films Hollywood tended to make, so with The Steel Helmet, Fuller sought to capture the barbaric realities of war. The Steel Helmet focuses on a ragtag group of American stragglers who battle against superior communist troops in an abandoned Buddhist temple during the Korean War.
The Steel Helmet was the first American movie made about the Korean War. Fuller shot the film in ten days for a minuscule budget of $104,000. Despite the small budget, The Steel Helmet grossed $2 million at the box office. Fuller won the award for Best Written American Low-Budget from the Writers Guild of America. The American Film Institute nominated The Steel Helmet for their list 100 Years…100 Thrills. In 1998, the Chicago Reader’s Jonathan Rosenbaum included The Steel Helmet on his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100.
2 The Manchurian Candidate Is One of Cinema’s Greatest Political Thrillers (1962)
Made during the height of the Cold War, The Manchurian Candidate is one of cinema’s all-time great political thrillers. Directed by John Frankenheimer, The Manchurian Candidate tells the story of a platoon of United States soldiers who were captured and brainwashed during the Korean War. After the war, the soldiers return home to a hero’s welcome. However, one of the brainwashed soldiers finds himself an unwitting assassin for an international communist conspiracy.
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The Manchurian Candidate was a box office success that earned rave reviews from critics. The film received two Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globe Award nominations, a BAFTA Award nomination, and three Laurel Award nominations. Angela Lansbury won Best Supporting Actress from both the Golden Globe Awards and the National Board of Review. In 1994, the Library of Congress selected The Manchurian Candidate for preservation in the National Film Registry. The American Film Institute ranked The Manchurian Candidate 67th on their list of 100 Years…100 Movies and 17th on their list of 100 Years…100 Thrills.
1 M*A*S*H Is Cinema’s Greatest Korean War Movie (1970)
M*A*S*H is the greatest Korean War movie of all time. Directed by Robert Altman, M*A*S*H is a Korean War black comedy about the staff of a field hospital. To keep their sanity, the staff uses humor and high jinks to cope with the horrors of war. M*A*S*H features an all-star cast that includes Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Gary Burghoff, and Fred Williamson.
A box office triumph, M*A*S*H was the third highest-grossing North American release in 1970. One of the most acclaimed films of 1970, M*A*S*H won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. M*A*S*H also won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, and the UN Award from the BAFTA Awards. In 1996, M*A*S*H entered the National Film Registry. The American Film Institute included M*A*S*H on their lists 100 Years…100 Movies, 100 Years…100 Laughs, 100 Years…100 Songs, and 100 Years…100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition).